


To the stars (and beyond)

by Fireflower34



Series: You raise me up [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: A+ parenting from multiple parties, Akabane Karma is a Little Shit, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Friendships, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hhhhhh, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Interpret as you like, Light Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PART OF A SERIES NOW!!!, Series of One Shots, Somewhat, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, a few minor details changed, and posted without editing, and we love him for it, because, because im an idiot, cause karma's parents arent that great either, cause nagisa's mom sucks, eventually i'll get there, honestly up to you, how the heck does junior high work, i'm writing this as platonic but, lots of headcanons, nothing graphic tho, oh well, our red and blue boys meet, sned hlep, the first three oneshots are here, the rest will be different works, why am i writing another multichapter story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25249108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fireflower34/pseuds/Fireflower34
Summary: Akabane Karma has never been known for his kindnessShiota Nagisa has never been known for his courageNot all that wander are lost, but sometimes a fellow wanderer is all you need to stay found.
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Shiota Nagisa, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: You raise me up [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844953
Comments: 18
Kudos: 47





	1. Where it starts Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> :D  
> New fandom!!!!  
> Assassination Classroom is amazing and i may or may not be done with the second season but sTILL  
> I love my babies Karma and Nagisa and this friendship is so /fascinating/  
> so i screwed myself over with another multichapter fic  
> TvT  
> Nagisa originally introduced Karma to us as 'we were in the same class our first and second year' but then later he says 'well, we /are/ old friends'  
> sooooooo  
> this is me taking that and running with it  
> i apologize for any ooc-ness, but i'd think they were a little different before e-class. I'll do my best on character development, but honestly its probably gonna suck  
> nevertheless, have fun!

1.

Three minutes in and Karma was already bored.

Kunugigaoka Junior High was supposed to be one of the most prestigious schools in all of Japan. It had a reputation for being incredibly demanding and fast-paced, with a curriculum that breached college-level subjects and exams that no other junior high teacher would dare touch with a ten-foot pole. Dropout rates were through the roof, but those that pressed on were pretty much set for life. At least, that’s what the internet said.

Karma sighs, leaning back in his chair and watching the clock impatiently. He hadn’t  _ wanted _ to attend this school. His mother and father insisted. Something about how his grades would keep him safe even if he ‘acted out.’ He’s pretty sure that had been meant to motivate him, but all he heard was that it was fine if he punched a bastard or two, as long as his scores stayed the way they were.

He smirks briefly, ‘ _ I supposed I should thank them for giving me a new place to play’. _ His grades would be more than fine. The only thing left for him to really do was to start looking for potential opponents in the school. 

The teacher was still talking, his voice white noise punctuated only by the occasional whack of his ruler against the chalkboard. Its obnoxious  _ smack _ noise practically  _ begged  _ Karma to snap it into itty bitty pieces and chuck the remains out a window. Unfortunately, the windows looked like they were all locked. Maybe some other time then.

Karma tugs his legs up onto the chair and twists to scan the rest of the room. It didn’t look like there were many people worth fighting. Some guy in the back was glaring at another student. Probably the type to be easily provoked. Another one was throwing paper balls at people around the classroom. Karma made note of his seat. No better way to start off the school year than putting some annoying jerk in their place.

_ “Dude do you see that chick?” _

Karma twitches, turning slightly to watch the speaker whisper to his friend. Oh gods how he wanted to punch them. It was the first day. Half the students that got in were just lucky. Give it a few weeks and the guys like the ones behind him would start dropping like flies. 

_ “The cute one in the front? Yeah I’ve never seen anyone with that color hair. Think I should grab her on her way out?” _

Karma makes a  _ tch _ noise, following their gaze to a blue-haired student seated at the front row. They were right about one thing, she had an unusual hair color. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen that shade of blue.

...Then again, he’s never seen anyone with his shade of red either. It was a big world out there, he supposed.

_ “Heck yeah. What about the hottie in the corner? I know someone who-” _

Karma stops listening. No point in getting involved with people like them. They’d only drag him down. Besides, class ended in- he glanced at the clock and groaned. Twenty minutes. Dammit he could’ve sworn it’d been less than that. What was he supposed to do for twenty minutes?

_ Pay attention maybe? _

Ha. Nice joke subconsciousness.

\--------

Karma was out of the classroom the second the bell rang.

The hallways were just starting to fill up, leaving the red-haired boy to try and weave his way through the masses to get to his next class. Science, if he remembered correctly.

He muttered a few curses under his breath, this school was just too damn  _ big _ , it’ll take him forever to find the right room. If it was any other day, he would’ve just ditched. But even Karma had enough sense to understand the importance of first impressions. 

Which is why he was running fast enough for his surprise to make him trip.

“Heyyyy hot stuff. What’s a pretty girl you like doing with the rest of these stuck-up brats?”

“I-I’m sorry, you’ve got it wrong I’m-”

“Aw, c’mon, it’ll be fun! Just you and I. Who needs these stupid classes anyway?”

The guy from before. What the hell? He’d been  _ serious? _ This was  _ junior high. _ Far too early to get arrested for sexual assault. Or to be subjected to it.

Karma skids to a stop, pressing his back against the wall and peeking around the corner. Yep. The same burly brown-haired guy, with the blue-haired girl backed against the wall. He almost snorted at the scene. What was this, some cheesy romance anime?

Anime or not, the girl was very clearly uncomfortable. And well, Karma had been itching for some action anyway. A devilish smile flashes across his face. Oh this was gonna be  _ fun. _

“Hey!” he steps around the corner, hands in his pockets and practically radiating laziness. “Is this your class? ‘Cause if not, Imma have to ask you to move along” he jabs a thumb down the hallway behind him to emphasize.

The guy snarls, “like I give a damn. Whoever you are, unless you want your head busted in, I suggest you keep your nose out of other peoples’ business.”

The girl was watching him in mild surprise, but he keeps his eyes on his target. “A shame, really. That you had to choose today of all days to force yourself on an innocent student. I’m in a rush you see, So we’re gonna have to make this quick.” he spreads his arms invitingly, knowing a dangerous smirk was spreading across his face. “Well? Are those bulging muscles of yours just for show? Or are you scared of one scrawny little junior high boy with a big attitude?” 

The bully growls at him, “You wanna fight? Fine. It’s your funeral.” he drops the hand pressed next to the girl’s head and stalks towards Karma, who just whistles in appreciation, 

“Well, you certainly got the ‘Dramatic Villain Walk’ down. I”m sooooo intimidated”

The bully snarls, face contorting in rage, “shut  _ UP! _ ” He charges, throwing a punch at Karma’s face. The redhead laughs, dodging it easily, “Aw c’mon. That all you got? I’ve seen four-year-olds with better coordination.”

This was the best part. When Karma can practically  _ see _ the logic drain from their mind and all they end up doing is moving on pure rage. No thoughts left besides the urge to smack him upside the head. Usually he’d take his time, get as much fun out of it as he could. But they had class in a few minutes and as little as he cared about his own academic success, he had no intention of dragging the girl down with him.

He sidesteps another punch and grabs his arm, twisting it behind the bully’s back and shoving the other student against the wall before hissing into his ear, “Now, I hope this little demonstration was enough to teach you a lesson. Pick on someone your own size next time, and  _ maybe _ I won’t be as pissed.” he lets go and shoves him towards the hallway, “now go on. Find your classroom before someone else gets hurt.” The bully shoots a fearful glare behind him and almost trips in his haste to get away. Karma just laughs, “oh man, look at him go. There’s someone who won’t be failing PE this year.”

He turns to the girl behind him, “Class starts in a few minutes. Better hop to it.” He leaves before she can respond, no way he was gonna stick around for things to get emotional. He got his fight and she gets left alone. Win-win. He'd never understand why some people drew out the aftermath.

Now, the classroom. Where in the friggin' world was his classroom? Dammit if he ever found who created the numbering system for this school he was gonna punch ‘em…

~

As our resident delinquent stormed through the hallways, a certain blue-haired student picked up his things and made his way to second period, quite content with how the school year had started.


	2. Where it starts Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa's third period didn't go as terribly as expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just,,, writing this now.  
> Gonna churn out as many of these as i can as fast as i can before i lose dedication  
> I love the beans  
> ahaha these two idiots can't socialize at all.

Nagisa made it through second period without much trouble

If you ignored the whispers. 

He wished his mother at least let him to wear his hair in a ponytail, but it seems that would have done much anyway, if the situation after first period was anything to go by.

He’s willing to bet the boy who saved him thought he was a girl too.

The bell rings and Nagisa jumps, realizing he’d zoned out for the remainder of social studies. The notebook on his desk was half blank, and he prayed the teacher had posted the topics online. He’d have to fit in some self-studying tonight, it seems.

Next period math right? Nagisa’s pretty sure he passed that classroom on his way here.

He packs up quickly, barely managing to zip up his backpack with all the papers they’d been handed. And it was only _second period._ It’d be a miracle if he could still lift his bag after today. 

He manages to squeeze his way past the crowd into the hallway, retracing his steps to find what he _assumed_ was the room for math. If it wasn’t, then there would be very little chance of him finding the right class in this labyrinth of a school.

Turns out, it was far easier to locate than the social studies class, being smack in the middle of the hallway. A horde of students was already gathering outside the door, choking up the halls as they waited for passing period to be over. 

Nagisa hung around the edges of the group, counting down the minutes on his watch and scanning the crowd for someone he recognized. He leaned a bit farther away when the boy who cornered him made an appearance, but peeked back up when a familiar redhead swung an arm around the bully and whispered something in his ear with a smirk. 

So he was in this class too?

That was...nice, in a way. At least one person didn’t have it out for him.

Of course, rationally speaking, he could very easily be bad news too. Nagisa had no doubt in his mind that the redhead could make his life hell if he felt like it. Strangely enough, there was an underlying certainty that he _wouldn’t._

The bell rings again and Nagisa jolts in surprise before following the others inside, wishing he would stop spacing out so much. 

The teacher was a lanky man with wire-rimmed glasses and a suit that screamed. Like, just screamed. Incoherently. At least, that’s what it seemed like to Nagisa. He banged a book on the desk for everyone's attention and began speaking in an obnoxiously high-pitched voice that made the bluenette dread this class already, “All of you have three minutes to take a seat and get out your notebooks before we start. I will _not_ wait for those of you that fall behind. Get a tutor, or drop out. There’s no room for slacking here.” he glares at a few choice students as the class hurries to the seats,

Nagisa finds himself near the middle, with a blond-haired girl on her right and a skinny boy to his left, both already bent over a notebook and writing furiously. He quickly fumbles for his own notebook, nearly dropping it in surprise when a furious shout sounds from behind him.

The teacher slams the book on the desk again, harder this time, “No horseplay! Interrupt this class and you face the consequences. Got it you two?!”

A familiar voice answers him, dripping with amusement and sarcasm, “we understand professor” Nagisa twists in his chair to see none other than the boy who’d saved him, and the boy that’d trapped him. The bully was reluctantly releasing the grip he had on the other student’s coller, dropping back into his seat with a growl while the redhead smirked at him, seemingly oblivious to Nagisa’s curious gaze.

The bluenette turns back around and picks up his pencil, absently copying down the equations on the chalkboard. It seemed like this would be an interesting class.

\---------------

“And that’s it for today. Homework is page one through ten. Due tomorrow at _precisely_ eight am. Now move along.”

Nagisa slumps over his desk with a sigh as the bell rang. He’d never been that great in math, and this teacher talked so fast he could barely keep up. Another subject to study at home then, and another pound to add to his backpack.

He watched as the class packed up and filed out little by little for lunch, the teacher being one of the first. Hooray, a thirty minute break from this madness they called school. He glanced behind him, watching the red-haired boy flip through his phone, clearly in no rush to leave the classroom.

...Nagisa should thank him, shouldn’t he? For driving away that bully.

Yeah he should.

The bluenette stands up and stretches, putting away his messy notes and slinging the bag over his shoulder before making his way to the other student’s desk. The redhead doesn’t look up from his phone, leaving Nagisa standing there awkwardly for a few seconds as he gathers his courage to start the conversation.

“Um” he blurts out, “Hi”

_Wow, very eloquent Nagisa_

The other boy blinks, finally noticing the student in front of him, “Oh, it’s you. Did you want something...?”

Nagisa picks at his uniform nervously, eyes glued on the desk, “well, kind of. I mean. I-I just- wanted to say-” he takes a deep breath and straightens, meeting faded red eyes for a split second before bending over in a bow, “Thank you for helping me!”

There’s a moment of silence as Nagisa stands up straight again, staring at the floor and trying desperately to keep the embarrassed blush off his cheeks.

“What, did you expect me to leave you there with that creep? C’mon, I _do_ have human decency.”

Nagisa flushes at the matter-a-fact tone, “o-of course. I’m sorry if I came off as rude or-”

The redhead looks startled, waving a frantic hand in the air, “whoa whoa whoa I was _joking._ No need to start groveling for forgiveness.” he leans back in his seat as Nagisa flushes harder and mumbled another sorry. Right. Joking. Of course he was joking. Great job Nagisa. What wonderful socializing. 

They lapsed into another awkward silence, the red-haired boy shifting in his seat as his gaze flicked around the classroom. Nagisa fidgets with the strap of his bag, mind fumbling for something to say.

“I-I’m actually a boy”

Crap. Where had _that_ come from?

The other boy blinked at him in confusion, and Nagisa seriously wished a hole would open up in the floor and swallow him right then and there. Why did he decide this was a good idea? He’d like to slap past Nagisa please.

But the normal rounds and variations of ‘what? No way’ didn’t come. Instead, his classmate just blinked at him once more and nodded in acknowledgement with a small “oh.” and “Sorry for assuming. I guess.”

“N-no it’s okay. People make that mistake a lot” Nagisa was somewhat surprised it hadn’t provoked more of a reaction, but grateful all the same. The first day of school was stressful enough without crazy gender shenanigans. 

A lot calmer now, the bluenette holds out a hand, “I’m Nagisa Shiota.”

The red-haired boy stares at the appendage like he’d just been offered a cake with a knife sticking out of it, leaving Nagisa hanging for a few seconds before reaching out a bit hesitantly to grasp it in his own. “Karma Akabane”

_Interesting name,_ Nagisa wants to say, but it was probably a _bit_ too early to be making name jokes. Instead, he settles for a smile, excitement bubbling in his chest at the prospect of a new friend.

“Nice to meet you Akabane!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	3. Cohesion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various interactions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! so a few things i want to mention before we begin  
> -I edited the last chapter's title to match with the first, because those two are likely gonna be the only ones the happen together in the timeline  
> -this is meant to be a series of oneshots, the first few chapters are meant to help provide a bit of a view into their relationship in the beginning, so they're somewhat connected. Each of the others happen after the ones before it, but not directly after. Just want to make that clear  
> -i changed a tiny detail in chapter two that said Nagisa had his hair up, because i want to keep this as canon as i can and Nagisa actually had his hair /down/ at first.  
> -yes, i know the movie is actually their first interaction in canon, buuut for the sake of this story im gonna go and say it's what really kicks off their friendship instead.   
> -and yeah, their homeroom teacher's last name is Ono. Unless i read it wrong.
> 
> With all that in mind, im battling writers block right now, so hopefully this doesn't suck too much!!

Nagisa groaned, slumping over the lunch table as the bell rang. He tugged the papers out of his backpack and stared at them mournfully. Eighty-eight, eighty-four, eighty-six. If this kept up he’d be booted out of Kunugigaoka by second term.

The bluenette sinks lower in his seat and props his chin on the table to watch the students pour into the lunch room. They were only a week in and Nagisa was already struggling to understand the material. He didn’t want to imagine what kind of hell finals would bring.

_ If I even make it to finals _

Stop it. Optimism. You got this Nagisa. Just search it up online, find a textbook or two. It can’t be  _ that _ hard.

...Yeah right.

His arms flop to either side of his head with a thump as he faces the table again. It smelled like antiseptic and some kind of cafeteria food, but he wasn’t sure what. Stew maybe? Meatloaf? Did they even serve meatloaf?

He’s jolted out of his thoughts by a thump to his left and a slight vibration of the table as someone sat down next to him. A click from a cafeteria tray soon followed and Nagisa froze, wondering who it could be.

Rustling. A piece of paper tugged out from where it was pinned under his arm.

“Wow Shiota. That quiz really kicked your butt.”

Ah.

Nagisa turns his head enough to catch a flash of red hair, “yeah I know. Don’t suppose you got any convenient ways to fix that?”

Akabane makes a  _ heh _ noise, “Nah. There’s a book I know that might be some help though. I could get it for you after school if you like.”

Nagisa sits back up and brushed long blue locks away from his face, mildly flustered, “N-no it’s okay. I can get it myself. But thanks anyway Akabane.”

The other boy hums noncommittally and sips his strawberry milk, “If you say so. It's on the third shelf in aisle fou- wait no, five.” 

Nagisa flashes him a small smile

\------------------

Akabane drops next to him at the cafeteria table again, setting his tray down not-so-gently in front of him, Nagisa blinks at the boy curiously.

“Do your parents ever have you bring lunch?”

The redhead digs in his pocket for a second and pulls out a dollar, something almost bitter flashing across his face, “Nope”

He stands up to make his way to the vending machine

\---------------

“Shiota, your hair.”

Nagisa almost jumps in surprise when Akabane’s voice sounded behind him, “w-what about it?” He answers somewhat defensively. There were lots of things people have said about his hair, but today was not a day he felt up to hearing most of them (the bruise on his arm was a testimony to that).

The other boy studies him briefly before stating, “it's a mess.”

“O-oh. Right. I forgot to brush it today.”

“In a rush?”

“You could say that.” (if frantically trying to find clothes that covered his new bruises counted as rushing) He had been eager to get out of the house this morning. It was  _ not  _ looking like a good day for his mom and he wanted to be away for as much of the day as possible.

His stomach rumbled, reminding the bluenette that that particular plan had ended up leaving his breakfast behind.

Akabane shifts next to him, and Nagisa feels a blush rising to his cheeks and a cover story to his lips as the redhead mumbled something and twisted to rummage in his backpack. Every hasty explanation was blown out of his mind though, when Akabane tossed something at him without warning, leaving Nagisa to fumble the catch best he could.

A small bag, tied with a simple knot, and containing a bagel and packet of cream cheese. 

The bluenette glances at him in surprise, but Akabane just shrugs, hefting his backpack over one shoulder, “I can get something from the vending machines.”

“Oh. uh. Thanks. Really.”

“Mm, don’t mention it.”

Nagisa doesn’t ask him why he brought his breakfast to school

\---------------

He waves when they pass in the hallways. The other boy always waves back.

\---------------

Partners?

Karma hadn’t had to do that since primary school, when the teachers were all caught up in their vision of all the kids joining hands and playing together as a team. Admittedly, this was a  _ liiiiiiittle _ different. But still.

Karma didn’t have many good things to say about partner projects. His teammate usually hated him, and the feeling was usually mutual.

Shiota didn’t seem to mind though.

They ended up with ninety-four percent. One of the better scores in the class, and no explosions, sadly (Shiota looked somewhat concerned when he said the last part out loud)

Karma thinks he’s grateful they got to choose their teammate this time.

\-----------------

The redhead had decided weeks ago, that the day the school ran out of strawberry milk would be the day he ditches class

He’s not at all expecting a certain blue haired boy to have snagged the last one for him

\----------------

The movie had been surprisingly fun, even though Akabane couldn’t resist messing around. At least they hadn’t gotten kicked out.

Nagisa sips the last of his drink, watching the redhead talk animatedly about the director’s other films. A few had even made a name for themselves in America, it seems. 

“What about you Shiota? Got any favorites?”

The bluenette hums thoughtfully, pausing to toss the empty soda into the trash, “Well, there  _ was  _ this one movie I loved when I was….six? Eight? Not sure.”

Akabane pops a few more pieces of popcorn into his mouth and throws one at a pigeon, ignoring the bluenette’s chaise about feeding birds “Nothing more recent? What about the one we just saw?”

Nagisa shrugs, throwing a mournful glance at the pigeon, “eh, it was pretty good, but I haven’t seen that many movies recently, so there’s not much I can compare it with.”

“Whaaaaaat.” Akabane comes to a stop in front of him, incredulity written all over his face, “Well we can’t let that stand,  _ can  _ we now?”

“Pretty sure we can”

“Shhhh. No we can’t”

Nagisa laughs as the other boy threw an arm around him and started listing the movies he was gonna have to take them to watch, content to let him talk as they weaved through the crowds of people. It was nice, he decided, as Akabane bopped him gently on the head and faked upset at the bluenette’s attempt at his popcorn.

  
“How much did you  _ take?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	4. Announcement!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A notice for anyone following this fic <3

With the AO3 Tag Wranglers in mind, I'm going to turn this series of one-shots into an actual series with separate fics.

The first three I've written will stay in this work, but the rest will be added as different works.

Hopefully this won't change anything, the story'll go as planned, but it'll just be easier on the poor souls that have to manage the tags ;>

Thanks to all the tag wranglers out there, appreciated it <3


End file.
